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Now I'm excited to get a Nexus 4, possibly, instead of a Galaxy Note II. I'm a Canadian Rogers customer about 1 year into a 3 year contract with an LTE data plan. I'm currently stuck with a Galaxy S II (i9100) with no LTE support, but since the Galaxy Note II is about $700 outright, I think the much better deal would be to go with the Nexus 4, especially now that I know it has LTE capability (which some other Rogers customers have tried) :P

I think the Galaxy Note II seems to have the leg up in terms of battery life, screen size (obviously), and nifty features like the pop-up view (Samsung only, I think?), but at effectively double the price, that's a pretty big difference.Reply

How much would it cost you at this point to break your contract with them and take a Nexus 4 on a month-to-month plan? I'm honestly just curious as I try to stay away from them as much as possible, especially for Internet plans.

For clarity for those who are interested but unfamiliar (like I was about a month ago):

The AWS frequency spectrum band refers to microwave data (including voice) transmissions, which run around 1700 MHz for uploads and around 2100 for downloads.

In Canada, the AWS band was the spectrum made available by the government in 2008 for auction.

Newcomers to the Canadian telecommunications industry such as Mobilicity, Wind and Videotron licensed the AWS band for UMTS communication (3G and HSPA's fake 4G). The big three firms of Rogers, Bell and Telus licensed the AWS spectrum they bought for use with the LTE protocol.

While they use the same frequencies, because the protocols are different a phone such as the Nexus 4 which is capable of LTE on AWS is not compatible with the networks which use UMTS on AWS.Reply

From what I understand, Band 4 is divided into 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz because one frequency is used exclusively for the upload path and the other is for the download path. So that would be different from Band 1 (2100 MHz, in both directions), I assume?Reply

To be more technically accurate, in addition to band 1, LG U+ also is on band 5. SKT is also on band 3 & 5 while KT is on band 3, 8 & 26. In any event, LTE for Nexus 4 is a no go in Korea. It's a shame 'cause I will be getting a Nexus 4 soon and plan to use it in Korea.Reply

And in addition, the Optimus G is LG's flagship in Korea and the G makes money for LG...the N4 is probably sold at cost or a little more than cost to el goog. Therefore, LG has a vested interest to make as few N4s as possible and to make and sell as many Optimus Gs as possible. Reply

Why and how would they get FCC approval for something that doesn't currently exist in the US? There is currently NO LTE network on Band 4, in the US. T-Mobile *PLANS* to start deploying LTE on this band in 2013. But that means two things:

1) You still have no LTE right now even if you're using T-Mobile with this phone.2) You have to use T-Mobile.

So the only way I'd be interested in a Nexus 4 was if I just signed a two year contract with T-Mobile and was unhappy with whatever POS subsidised phone I got suckered into buying. Thankfully that will never happen. The only thing I like about T-Mobile is no overages for data.

It still has a max of 16GB with no SD card. Google's Sergey Brin has gone on the record repeatedly saying that users are too stupid to manage their own PCs, and SD cards in tablets and phones would just confuse you dum-dums. Thanks Sergey! I'll be removing all secondary storage in my devices and relying only on your Cloud post-haste! Not.Reply

Actually, MetroPCS uses AWS LTE in about 14 markets (perhaps more, as I think that is an old story I read it in).You would, however, be out of luck trying to take the Nexus 4 to them as their voice network is CDMA.Reply

The phone set up the APN automatically when I put in the SIM that came with my GSII. I deleted the proxy settings because they blocked speedtest but other than that I just clicked LTE only and this is what happened.Reply

Fantastic work Brian. Articles like this are why many come to AnandTech I'm sure.

As an aside, can you quickly look into the Podcast naming schema, meta data and tag usage?

Right now, the Podcast tag is missing from Episodes 5-7 (though a search for "podcast" brings up all of them), and the recent Episodes 9 and 10 are going under a weird "Anand Shimpi1's Album" on my phone. Episodes 1-8 went into "Anand Shimpi's Album" as a comparison.

Also, a picture of the AnandTech logo wouldn't hurt either. In addition to aesthetic cleanliness with the rest of ones Album view, those sidelong glances at the screen from people sitting beside a smartphone user on a train or plane lead to curious Google searches and new listeners.

So if I understand this correctly, the transceiver and PA's are there for bands 1, 2 and 4 but the software only supports band 4.

"I tore down the Nexus 4 to ascertain whether PAs were present that could work with LTE, and saw indeed that at least bands 4, 2, and 1 did have Avago power amplifiers (A5704, A5702, and ACPM–7251) which noted support for LTE."

Does this mean that bands 1 and 2 are only a software patch away from being functional??Reply

I was so pumped about this phone but I don't care what the reasoning by Google I need a micro-SD slot and a removable battery in my phone. I constantly swap batteries in my current phone because of how much I use it without access to charging. I need the micro-SD to hold gobs of data when traveling. If they had a 32GB option I'd be more open, but the battery issue is a deal killer.Reply

This is exciting news for me because even though I'm overjoyed with my current HSPA data connection of 10Mbps+, I see that Tmo continues to roll out HSPA+ (42Mbps) and plan to have LTE by mid-2013 ... so this phone will definitely span all those updates on the network. :) And at only $49/mo for unlimited everything, I don't know why anyone would want anything else! Check out what I have right now: http://www.PenniesOverDollars.comReply

If wonder if there’s a way to determine which of the carriers provide the most timely and consistent updates? AT&T seems to do a lot of updates, which keeps them relevant while building its 4GLTE network. I've got it here in New York and it helps my graphics design work tremendously when it comes to sending large files.Reply

OK guys, I read it all and I'm still confused... I live in Argentina, where my carrier supports Band 4 LTE, and I have a Nexus 4 bought in the U.S.I just chose the option LTE/GSM/CDMA on Android, but I ignore if this configuration took effect or not.Is there any way to know if my mobile is working on 4g?Reply